Cognitive decline impacts older adults, particularly their independence. The goal of this project was to increase understanding of how short-term, everyday lifestyle options, including physical activity, help an older adult sustain cognitive independence. Using a secondary analysis of lifestyle choices, we drew on a dataset of 4,620 community-dwelling elders in the US, assessed at baseline and one year later using 2 valid and reliable tools, the interRAI Community Health Assessment and the interRAI Wellness tool...

BACKGROUND: The concept of frailty, a relative state of weakness reflecting multiple functional and health domains, continues to receive attention within the geriatrics field. It offers a summary of key personal characteristics, providing perspective on an individual's life course. There have been multiple attempts to measure frailty, some focusing on physiologic losses, others on specific diseases, disabilities or health deficits. Recently, multidimensional approaches to measuring frailty have included cognition, mood and social components...

OBJECTIVE: Death wishes in older people are common and may progress to suicidal ideation and attempts. This study used routinely collected data from the interRAI Home Care assessment to examine the prevalence and clinical predictors of death wishes in older New Zealanders assessed for home support and long-term aged residential care. METHODS: Data were collected from 35 734 people aged over 65 during 2012-2014. Chi-squared analyses were used to determine significant relationships between the presence of death wishes and demographic factors, health and functional status, and emotional and psychosocial well-being...

OBJECTIVES: The ability to manage one's life with some degree of independence, to fulfill basic obligations, and to participate in social activities are social functions that delineate the core of 'social health'. We examine to what extent clients of community care in Europe (n = 2884) complete such activities despite their cognitive problems. We focus on mildly and moderately impaired people, aged 65+ years. METHODS: Data were collected using the interRAI HC-Assessment in IBenC-project...

AIMS: To determine if urinary incontinence (UI) and fecal incontinence (FI) were independent risk factors for aged resident care (ARC) admissions for older people, after controlling for confounders and applying apposite statistical methods. METHODS: Since 2012, all community care recipients in New Zealand have undergone a standardized needs assessment using the Home Care International Residential Assessment Instrument (interRAI-HC). The interRAI-HC instrument elicits information on 236 questions over 20 domains, including UI and FI frequency within the last 3 days...

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects of home care interventions for frail older people in delaying permanent institutionalization during 6 months of follow-up. DESIGN: Longitudinal quasi-experimental research study, part of a larger study called Protocol 3. SETTING: Community care in Belgium. PARTICIPANTS: Frail older adults who received interventions (n = 4,607) and a comparison group of older adults who did not (n = 3,633)...

AIMS: Depression Rating Scale (DRS) is one of the clinical outcome measures of the International Resident Assessment Instrument (interRAI) assessment. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic accuracy and concurrent validity of the 3-day assessment window version of the DRS. METHODS: The performance of DRS was compared with a gold standard clinical diagnosis of depression in 92 patients (age ≥65) who had interRAI version 9.1 Home Care assessment completed within 30 days of discharge from psychogeriatric inpatient care or memory clinic assessment...

UNLABELLED: In Poland long-term care services are provided by skilled care and treatment facilities (ZOL) and nursing and care facilities (ZPO) both functioning within the health sector as well as by non-skilled nursing homes (DPS) situated in social care sector. Determinants of medical and nursing care provided by both sectors vary considerably in terms of organization (availability) and economic issues (costs of care). AIM: The aim of the study is to compare characteristics of residents in two types of long term care facilities (LTCFs) in Poland with a special focus on geriatric issues...

UNLABELLED: In Poland long-term care services are provided by skilled care and treatment facilities (ZOL) and nursing and care facilities (ZPO) both functioning within the health sector as well as by non-skilled nursing homes (DPS) situated in social care sector. Determinants of medical and nursing care provided by both sectors vary considerably in terms of organization (availability) and economic issues (costs of care). AIM: The aim of the study is to compare characteristics of residents in two types of long term care facilities (LTCFs) in Poland with a special focus on geriatric issues...

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association of the anticholinergic medication burden with hospitalization and mortality in nursing home elderly patients and to investigate the role of coronary artery disease (CAD). DESIGN: Longitudinal (5-year) retrospective observational study. SETTING: Nursing homes in Italy. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3761 nursing home older residents. MEASUREMENTS: A comprehensive clinical and functional assessment was carried out through the interRAI long-term care facility instrument...

BACKGROUND: The interRAI-Home Care (interRAI-HC) instrument is commonly used in routine care to assess care and service needs, resource utilisation and health outcomes of community dwelling home care clients. Potentially, the interRAI-HC can also be used to calculate societal costs in economic evaluations. The purpose of this study was to assess the convergent validity of the interRAI-HC instrument in comparison with the RUD Lite instrument for the calculation of societal costs among care-dependent community dwelling older adults...

BACKGROUND: Many instruments have been developed to identify frail older adults in primary care. A direct comparison of the accuracy and prevalence of identification methods is rare and most studies ignore the stepped selection typically employed in routine care practice. Also it is unclear whether the various methods select persons with different characteristics. We aimed to estimate the accuracy of 10 single and stepped methods to identify frailty in older adults and to predict adverse health outcomes...

BACKGROUND: Nursing homes are important locations for palliative care. High quality palliative care requires an evaluation of the different care needs of the nursing home residents. The interRAI Palliative Care instrument is a comprehensive assessment that evaluates the needs and preferences of adults receiving palliative care. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate the usefulness, feasibility and face validity of the interRAI Palliative Care instrument. DESIGN: A qualitative study was conducted, based on the abductive reasoning approach...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between polypharmacy and adverse outcomes among older hospital inpatients stratified according to their frailty status. DESIGN AND SETTING: A prospective study of 1418 patients, aged 70 and older, admitted to 11 hospitals across Australia. MEASUREMENTS: The interRAI Acute Care (AC) assessment tool was used for all data collection, including the derivation of a frailty index calculated using the deficit accumulation method...

OBJECTIVES: To describe health care and preventive service provision to nursing home (NH) residents with diabetes mellitus (DM) and to analyze factors determining use of selected services. DESIGN: In the period between 2009 and 2011, the Services and Health for Elderly in Long TERm care (SHELTER) project, a 12-month prospective cohort study, was conducted to assess 4037 NH residents aged 60 years and older residing in 59 NHs in 7 European countries and Israel. METHODS: The InterRAI tool for long-term care facilities was used to assess care needs and provided health care services...

Small rural hospitals admit and manage older adults who, in city hospitals, would usually be offered geriatrician-supported comprehensive geriatric assessment and coordinated subacute care if required. Distance and diseconomies of scale prohibit access to the conventional in-person approach. A telegeriatric service model involving a geriatrician consulting remotely using wireless, mobile, high-definition videoconferencing; a trained host nurse at the rural site; structured geriatric assessment configured on a web-based clinical decision support system; routine weekly virtual rounds; and support from a local multidisciplinary team was established to overcome these barriers...

OBJECTIVES: To validate the Pressure Ulcer Risk Scale (PURS) to screen for pressure ulcer (PU) outcomes in the acute hospital setting. DESIGN: Secondary data analysis was undertaken using a combined dataset from three prospective cohort studies. SETTING: General medical, surgical, and orthopedic wards in 11 hospitals in two states of Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 70 and older admitted to the hospital for longer than 48 hours from July 2005 to May 2010 (N = 1418)...

OBJECTIVE: Since 2012, all community care recipients in New Zealand have undergone a standardised needs assessment using the Home Care International Residential Assessment Instrument (interRAI-HC). This study describes the national interRAI-HC population, assesses its data quality and evaluates its ability to be matched. METHODS: The interRAI-HC instrument elicits information on 236 questions over 20 domains; conducted by 1,800+ trained health professionals. Assessments between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2014 are reported here...

OBJECTIVES: Dual sensory impairment (DSI) is a combination of vision and hearing impairments that represents a unique disability affecting all aspects of a person's life. The rates of DSI are expected to increase due to population aging, yet little is known about DSI among older adults (65+). The prevalence of DSI and client characteristics were examined among two groups, namely, older adults receiving home care services or those residing in a long-term care (LTC) facility in four countries (Canada, US, Finland, Belgium)...